Pramāṇa III

pramāṇa; (Sanskrit). The Indian science concerned with epistemology as well as logic and the methods of debate. As Buddhist scholars encountered and entered into polemical discussions with other Indian religious groups, it became necessary for them to standardize the rules and methods of debate. From this developed a formal system of logic based on syllogisms which was acceptable to all parties in order to decide the outcome of such debates.

The earliest sources within Buddhism for such rules seem to be found in portions of Asaṇga's Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra and a work extant only in Chinese attributed to Vasubandhu. These early works were followed by the epoch-making Pramāṇa-samuccaya of Dignāga and the Pramāṇa-vārttika of Dharmakīrti. According to Buddhist pramāṇa tenets, there are only two valid and authoritative means of veridical cognition: direct perception (pratyakṣa) based on the senses; and inference (anumāṇa) based on rationality and logic. These two topics form the major concerns of Buddhist pramāṇa literature. Buddhist pramāṇa made a major impact on all other Indian schools of religious philosophy and its influence continued to be felt even after the demise of Buddhism in India in the early medieval period. Though introduced into China, it did not achieve any great popularity there whereas it has continued to be studied with considerable fervour among Tibetan Buddhist circles, especially by the Gelukpas.

Pramana (Skt. pramāṇa; Tib. ཚད་མ་, tsema, Wyl. tshad ma) is a Sanskrit term, the primary meaning and most common translation of which is 'valid cognition', meaning the correct knowledge of a particular object. The term is also used to refer to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on epistemology (the science of cognition, i.e. how we know things) and ontology (which investigates the nature of existence), as these two are inextricably linked in Buddhism. The pioneers of these teachings are the Indian masters Dignaga and Dharmakirti. Pramana is taught in all shedras since it is the basis for debate, an important learning tool in traditional monastic universities. In this context the term is sometimes translated as 'Buddhist logic'.

==Definition==
The standard definition of pramana is "a non-deceptive cognition" (Skt. avisaṃvādi-jñāna; Tib. mi bslu ba'i shes pa). There is some debate, particularly amongst Tibetan commentators, as to whether the definition should also specify that a valid cognition realizes something anew (gsar du rtogs pa).

==Subdivisions==
===According to the Instruments of Knowledge===
In the Buddhist tradition, a valid cognition can either be:

• a valid direct perception (Skt. pratyakṣa ; Tib. མངོན་སུམ་, Wyl. mgnon sum tshad ma) or
  
• a valid inference (Skt. anumāna; Wyl. རྗེས་དཔག་, rjes dpag tshad ma)
  

This twofold division is said to correspond to the two types of object: particulars, which are known through direct perception and universals, which are understood through inference.

===Conventional and Absolute===
In Mipham Rinpoche's tradition, valid cognition is often divided into conventional valid cognition and absolute valid cognition and these categories are then further subdivided into two:

1. Conventional valid cognition (tha snyad tshad ma)
   
   1. conventional valid cognition of ordinary limited vision, or valid cognition of ordinary limited vision investigating the conventional level of reality (ma dag tshur mthong tha synad dpyod pa'i tshad ma), and
      
   2. conventional valid cognition of pure vision, or valid cognition of pure vision investigating the conventional level of reality (dag pa'i gzigs snang tha snyad dpyod pa'i tshad ma)
      
2. Valid cognition of the absolute (don dam dpyod byed kyi tshad ma)
   
   1. Valid cognition of the categorized absolute (rnam grangs pa'i don dam dpyod byed kyi tshad ma)
      
   2. Valid cognition of the uncategorized absolute (rnam grangs ma yin pa'i don dam dpyod byed kyi tshad ma)
      

==Major Texts==
===Indian===

• Dignaga,
  
  • Examining What is Observed (Skt. Ālambana-parīkṣā; Tib. དམིགས་པ་བརྟག་པ་, Wyl. dmigs pa brtag pa),
    

དམིགས་པ་བརྟག་པ་, dmigs pa brtag pa

• • Compendium of Valid Cognition (Skt. Pramāṇa-samuccaya; Tib. ཚད་མ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་, Wyl. tshad ma kun las btus pa)
    

ཚད་མ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ་, tshad ma kun las btus pa

• Dharmakirti, Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition (Skt. Pramanavartikadisapta-grantha-samgraha; Tib. ཚད་མ་སྡེ་བདུན་, Wyl. tshad ma sde bdun)
  

===Tibetan===

• Sakya Pandita, Treasury of Valid Reasoning
  

==Alternative Translations==

• Logic & epistemology
  
• Prime cognition
  
• Verifying cognition

Source

dictionary.buddhistdoor.com